CANCER LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
STATEMENT ON SEQUESTRATION AND CANCER CARE REIMBURSEMENT

More than half of all cancer diagnoses in the United States
occur among Medicare beneficiaries, and reliable access to
outstanding cancer care depends on a smoothly functioning
Medicare payment system. The Cancer Leadership
Council, a coalition of cancer patients, physicians, and
researchers, supports a Medicare payment system that rewards
the delivery of quality care and operates without
disruption.

The Cancer Leadership Council supports the efforts of a
bipartisan group of Members of Congress to obtain
information from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) about the impact of the sequestration cut on
patient access to care and to ascertain the flexibility of
CMS in implementation of sequestration.

Cancer Leadership Council organizations have mobilized their
patient services programs, information networks, and
outreach programs to detect possible barriers to care for
cancer patients and also to provide assistance to any
patients who may experience difficulties in obtaining the
care they need.

The sequester has also directed attention to the weaknesses
and inappropriate incentives in Medicare reimbursement for
cancer care. The Cancer Leadership Council urges
Congress, even as it considers the impact of sequestration
and solutions to any disruptions in care, to consider these
core principles for Medicare cancer care payment reform:

Physician services for quality cancer care should be
supported by direct reimbursement and not through
margins on drugs.

Current systems for acquisition and payment of cancer
drugs, including average sales price-based reimbursement
in Medicare Part B and the 340B drug discounting system,
should be evaluated for their significant impact on
cancer patients, including the quality of care they
receive and the site at which they receive care, and for
their effects on the overall cancer care delivery
system.

Reform of the Medicare cancer care payment system is an
urgent matter for current beneficiaries and for baby-boomers
soon to join their ranks and must focus on creation of a
system of patient-centered care that is appropriately
reimbursed.